Writing the Troubles: Gender and Trauma in Northern Ireland
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Writing the Troubles: Gender and Trauma in Northern Ireland. Anthea Cordner A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for the Department of English Literature, Language and Linguistics University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne April 2014 Abstract This thesis argues that the interaction of gender and trauma theories within the fictional prose writing of five women authors from Northern Ireland whose work spans throughout the mid-twentieth century until the present day, suggests a crisis of individual and collective identity during the traumatic decades of the Troubles. This necessitates a re-engagement with literary tropes and historical representations of the emerging sense of Northern Ireland as a six counties nation. The first chapter considers how trauma theories have been defined and developed and assesses their value for readings of Northern Irish literature. This provides the critical framework used in the subsequent chapters to enable close readings of the novels and short stories. Mary Beckett’s narratives highlight the continuing trauma of Northern Ireland’s inception, the Second World War and Internment, while giving voice to the strong women who fought against traumas and traditions in hope of a positive future. Linda Anderson engages with 1980s feminism, while depicting the Troubles alongside Cold War politics, anti- nuclear war protests and the Civil Rights Movement to expand upon the impact of war on female identity. Deirdre Madden and Jennifer Johnston recreate Irish Gothic Big House literature, utilising their tropes and images to explore the traumatic fracturing of history and identity on individual and collective levels. Anna Burns enables a post- traumatic engagement with the Troubles by moving retrospectively through thirty years of violence using absurdity, carnivalesque and fantastical imagery to explore the unknowability at the centre of trauma. All five writers acknowledge the impact of trauma on a sense of self that becomes divided between the pre- and post- trauma time, and suggest that the liminal spaces created by trauma may allow for readings of history and identity beyond the confines of patriarchy, nationalism and colonialism. ii Dedication: To my Family Past, Present and Future iii Acknowledgements Three of the chapters from this thesis have been trialled in conference papers which have subsequently been published: excerpts from chapter two can be found in Brian Griffin’s New Voices in Irish Studies: Essays on History and Literature (Bath: Bath Spa U P, 2009), ideas from chapter three were first considered in Beyond the Anchoring Grounds: More Cross-Currents in Irish and Scottish Studies edited by Shane Alcobia- Murphy et al (Belfast: Queen’s U P, 2005), and sections from chapter five appear in Voicing Dissent: New Perspectives In Irish Criticism edited by Sandrine Brisset and Noreen Doody (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2012). A short summary of Linda Anderson’s work is repeated in Gonzalez Irish Women Writers (London; Westport CT: Greenwood, 2006) and the section in chapter one on Graham Dawson is based on work I did for a review of his Making Peace for Irish Studies Review (Bath: Bath Spa U P, 2009). I am grateful for the many academics who engaged with the readings of my conference papers over the years. In particular I am thankful for the support and advice of Professor Margaret Kelleher, Dr Claire Wills, Dr Scott Brewster, Dr Clare Connolly, Professor Patricia Coughlan, Dr Eamonn Hughes, and Dr Moynagh Sullivan. I would like to thank above all my supervisor Professor Kate Chedgzoy who has supported me throughout what has been a lengthy and at times difficult process. Without her insight, knowledge, and friendship this would not have been possible. I am grateful to the many people at the University of Newcastle who have given me advice and guidance over the years including, Professor Linda Anderson, Dr Anne Whitehead, Professor Jenny Richards, Dr Stacy Gillis, Dr Kirsten MacLeod, Professor Kim Reynolds, Dr Mike Rossington, and Rowena Bryson. I am thankful for the helpful advice of Professor Cathy Caruth during her visit to our reading group and for her interesting debates with Professor Jenny Edkins during their visit to the university. I gratefully appreciate the debating skills of the members of the Trauma Reading Group who helped unravel difficult theories and stimulated thinking on trauma. I particularly want to thank Clare Lindsay for her friendship and support as we ploughed together through the dark days of trauma research. Finally I thank my family for their practical support and for reminding me there is life beyond trauma. iv Contents ii Abstract iii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Contents 7 Introduction 7 The Initial Questions and Key Issues 12 Repositioning Northern Irish Women’s Writing 19 Writing Northern Ireland’s Trauma 25 Chapter One: Engaging with Trauma Theory 25 Freud 29 Janet 32 Establishing the Concepts and Definition of Trauma 35 Developing Trauma Theory 40 Cathy Caruth and the Un/Knowability of Trauma 44 Trauma and Memory 52 The Politics of Trauma 59 Chapter Two: Mary Beckett and the Trauma of War from the 1940s to the 1970s 59 Mary Beckett: An Introduction to the Author 63 Introduction to the Chapter 66 Beckett and the Short Story 72 A Belfast Woman 83 Give Them Stones 100 Conclusion 102 Chapter Three: Linda Anderson Exploring War and Gender in the 1970s and 1980s 102 Linda Anderson: An Introduction to the Author 105 Introduction to the Chapter 106 Anderson’s Early Writing 115 Cuckoo 119 National Identity and the Trauma of War 124 Trauma, Gender and the Body 135 Words, Wounding and Female Subjectivity 141 Conclusion v Contents 144 Chapter Four: Deirdre Madden and Jennifer Johnston Contrasting Traumatic Memory of the 1980s and 1990s 144 Introduction to the Chapter 146 Madden, Johnston and the Big House 151 Jennifer Johnston: An Introduction to the Author 157 Jennifer Johnston: Themes Within her Novels 160 The Invisible Worm 171 Deirdre Madden: An Introduction to the Author 175 Deirdre Madden: Themes Within her Novels 179 The Birds of the Innocent Woods 193 Conclusion 196 Chapter Five: The Retrospective Voice Of Anna Burns 196 Anna Burns: An Introduction to the Author 200 Introduction to the Chapter 202 Little Constructions 203 No Bones 213 Subverting History and Identity through Form 218 The Individual and Collective Trauma 221 The Grotesque 232 A Peace Process 238 Conclusion 241 Conclusion 244 Bibliography vi Introduction The Initial Questions and Key Issues The original impetus for this doctorate was to research the prose writing of women in and from Northern Ireland; to establish an understanding of female voices writing about the ‘nation’ of six counties in the north of Ireland, by identifying links and relationships between texts not previously considered as constituting a significant body of work. Despite the quality and importance of many women writers from Northern Ireland they have not been critically engaged with as extensively as their male counterparts. A reading of the novels and short stories of women from the North shows a breadth and depth of writing that demonstrates a multifarious depiction of women’s experiences. However what unites these writers, particularly when considering the years surrounding and including the decades of the Troubles, is their engagement with the traumatic experiences of their female protagonists, which more often than not is connected to the history of the land and the fracturing of identity. This project necessitated choosing a sample group, which could demonstrate a variety of viewpoints from writing across the decades of the Troubles, which includes engaging with influences and traumas from the creation of Northern Ireland to its present day considerations. The five writers selected for this study are therefore from different backgrounds and their novels progress chronologically throughout the decades as a way of marking the changes in the form and subject material used by writers as the Troubles evolved. Mary Beckett is a middle- class Belfast Catholic who lives in Dublin, Linda Anderson is a Belfast Protestant nationalist who lives in London, Deirdre Madden is from a rural Northern Irish Catholic background but has also lived in multiple European regions, Jennifer Johnston is a Dublin-born Protestant who lives in Derry and Anna Burns moved from her working- class Belfast nationalist home to live in England. Their varied experiences are reflected in their novels and short stories, which also convey the shifting public attitudes towards the Troubles. By placing these writers in dialogue with one another and with trauma theory it is possible to explore the changes to society and the political arena throughout the periods of war and violence that encompasses the history of Northern Ireland. Several questions arose from my readings of these women’s writings. What consideration could be given to a grouping of people that has experienced a traumatic 7 break in its identity: do those who identify with the group find a similar need to explore, through memory, their past and current identities in order to create a new understanding of both the past and present and how do they engage with literary tropes and historical representations of a collective identity? The texts chosen for this study engage with the individual protagonist and the collective identities under crisis in traumatic and post- traumatic situations. In its simplest form trauma can be defined as an event or series of events that overwhelm the individual or community to the extent that it remains difficult to process, thus fracturing the identity. By understanding trauma theory and how it may impact individuals and groups, it is possible to appreciate the specific ways in which the authors engage with traumatic history and post-trauma identity. I would suggest these writers describe the continuing impact of the traumatic events surrounding the creation of Northern Ireland and the subsequent traumas experienced during the decades of the Troubles, in such a way as to suggest they remain unresolved on an individual and a national level.